Rayners Lane manager Mick Bradshaw says the Hellenic League Division One East is a ‘strange’ place to play your football.

The Lane were Division One East Champions last season under former boss Dene Gardner but infrastructure limitations prevented them from gaining promotion to the Premier.

Gardner has since moved on to Leverstock Green and ex-Arsenal youth coach Bradshaw occupies the Tithe Farm hotseat.

But there won’t be much for him do this month as Rayners Lane are only scheduled to play two fixtures in the whole month of January – with one of those a cup match.

Fourteen teams make up Division One East, less than many other divisions, and Bradshaw admits it is unusual to have so few fixtures coming up.

“It’s a strange league,” he said. “I came into men’s football three seasons ago in the Suburban League and there was 17 or 18 teams in that division, whereas in this one there’s only 14.

“I suppose the Hellenic League have loaded us up with home fixtures, where we’ve got floodlights, and away fixtures at places like Wokingham, where they don’t have any floodlights.”

With such little game-time this winter, managing fitness will be crucial for Rayners Lane and Bradshaw will continue to work hard on the training field despite having few fixtures to prepare for.

“We’ll still train and we’re still in a couple of the cups, so there’s a bit of interest there,” he added. “I don’t think anyone minds having a weekend off occasionally! It gives us time to put one or two things together.”

Over in the Combined Counties Premier, there was little festive cheer for Wembley as they played out a goalless draw with Bedfont Sports on Saturday, ahead of this Saturday’s trip to Farnham Town.